Former Secretary of H.H.S.; former Republican Governor (WI)
Don’t let one high tech company escape Wisconsin
Wisconsin stands to become America’s Biotech Prairie and we mustn’t let one high tech company escape our state in search of a better climate.
We must aggressively pursue more venture capital so the ambitious high-tech and biotech entrepreneurs
have the resources to bring their discoveries to market.
We must continue investing wisely in our universities: Keep the Biostar program on pace. Double the number of information technology graduates. And create a Master’s degree in biotechnology at
UW-Madison.
And move forward with the Madison Initiative, Milwaukee Idea and Chippewa Valley Initiative. All are strategic plans geared toward developing the jobs and workers of tomorrow through public-private partnerships in their regions.
Find a way to create tax-free Technology Zones in regions of the state. They can set the Biotech Prairie on fire by providing a tremendous financial incentive for high-tech companies to locate and grow in Wisconsin.
Uniform state computer standard saved $10M annually
Staff did an inventory of the state's computer and phone systems. We discovered a situation: a cobbled-up mess. State agencies jealously guarded their own turf. Each agency wanted to have as much control and independence as possible, so there was no
uniform system or standard. We had four excellent mainframe computers, but none of them could communicate with one another. There were also several different phone systems.
So we put all the state agencies on the same phone system, consolidated computers, and established a uniform standard with one another. All this meant investing heavily in new technology, at a real cost. But again, it has paid off in the long run.
We are saving more than $10 million every year in computer costs alone. Making these changes sounds simple enough, but there was enormous bureaucratic resistance.
